Sodium Fluoroacetate: Chemical Poisons Reduction Act

Note from FAN: Molecular formula for Sodium fluoroacetate, also known as Compound 1080 (and more info and effects):

Every year the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program spends millions of taxpayer dollars on lethal predator control. A portion of the program’s substantial expenditures is dedicated to poisoning wildlife with two extremely dangerous and indiscriminate poisons: sodium fluoroacetate (Compound 1080) and sodium cyanide (M-44 devices). The Chemical Poisons Reduction Act, sponsored by Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR), would ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide in federal predator control programs.

House of Representatives

Compound 1080 Livestock Protection Collars

Compound 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) is an extremely dangerous poison used in livestock protection collars (LPCs). Placed around the necks of sheep or goats, these devices are intended to poison coyotes and other predators who may puncture a collar while attempting to prey on livestock.

Compound 1080 LPCs are dangerous, inhumane devices that do the following:

Cause extraordinary suffering. Once exposed to Compound 1080, an animal will experience a slow, excruciating death. Typically drawn out over several hours—sometimes days—death “may result from: (a) gradual cardiac failure or ventricular fibrillation; or (b) progressive depression of the central nervous system with either cardiac or respiratory failure as the terminal event; or (c) respiratory arrest following severe convulsions.”[i]

Harm nontarget species. Compound 1080 can leak from LPCs and directly contaminate the environment, exposing nontarget species to its harmful effects. Studies have shown that wire, vegetation, or other objects are responsible for more LPC punctures than are coyotes, and collars are often reported as missing.[ii] Because carcasses of animals poisoned with Compound 1080 are typically not recovered, there is a substantial risk of secondary poisoning of wildlife.

Endanger pets. Domestic animals are at risk, too, as even Wildlife Services has acknowledged: “Compound 1080 is hazardous to domestic animals including livestock and pets. Dogs are particularly susceptible. … As little as 0.1 ml of an LPC’s contents may be fatal to a 25 pound dog. Dogs could be poisoned by scavenging the carcasses of collared livestock.”[iii]

Threaten public safety and national security. In addition to its environmental and animal welfare impacts, Compound 1080 poses significant threats to humans. This “very highly toxic”[iv] chemical is colorless, tasteless, odorless, and water-soluble. The poison is so dangerous that the FBI has identified it as a potential weapon of terrorism, and Wildlife Services itself has stated that “Compound 1080 is highly toxic to warm blooded animals, including man, when taken internally. … [O]ne LP collar contains approximately 2 to 6 lethal doses for a 150 pound man.”[v] As with animals, anyone exposed to the substance will experience a great deal of pain and ultimately death, as—alarmingly—there is no known antidote to Compound 1080 poisoning…